Various microsensors have been used through the years in automotive and consumer electronics. Typically, a single sensor is housed together with necessary electronics in a packaging or in an assembly. Microsensors are typically characterized by their small size. For example, in microphones, the sensing parts have typical dimensions in the millimeter to sub-millimeter length.
Various types of microphones have been used in consumer electronics, including condenser microphones and MEMS microphones. In addition, tilt or orientation sensors have recently seen various implementations in consumer electronic devices. These tilt sensors are typically capacitive devices which are low resolution accelerometers that respond to the force of gravity and provide a voltage or current representative of the orientation or acceleration of the sensor.
Previous accelerometers used as tilt or orientation sensors have typically been surface micro-machined MicroElectroMechanical System (MEMS) devices comprising thick layers of polysilicon, typically on the order of several microns, to form the inertial or moving mass member and associated electrodes. These devices are generally not compatible for assembly with a microphone to form a miniature multipurpose device due to the largeness of their die size. In order to house a tilt sensor with a microphone to form a single miniature device it is desirable that the tilt sensor be as small, or smaller, than the microphone die.
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